TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida State men’s tennis team won its first two matches of the season today, January 23, at the Scott Speicher Tennis Center. The Seminoles (2-0, 0-0) opened the day with a 6-0 victory over Georgia Southern and then faced South Alabama to win 5-2.

“It’s really the freshmen’s first match and we kind of got a little tight,” said head coach Dwayne Hultquist. “We were in control and then all of a sudden we kind of lost control. I thought that these freshmen are going to have to be put in those positions so it’s good for them to go through it and come out winning it. Jean-Yves and Vahid, seniors, played really well today. Doubles was really good today.”

No. 27 Jean-Yves Aubone (Miami, Fla.) won all three of his matches today. The senior defeated Juan Melian Puigventos of Georgia Southern 6-0, 6-2 on court two. He then played on court one against South Alabama to win 6-4, 6-4 against Romain Bocaert. In doubles, he teamed up with junior Clint Bowles (Tampa, Fla.) to win 8-1 against South Alabama’s Viel/Bolaert.

No. 111 Vahid Mirzadeh (Wellington, Fla.) had a strong showing when he played on court one against Jayraj Jadeja of Georgia Southern to win 6-1, 6-2. Moving to court three against South Alabama, the senior won 6-2, 6-1 over Hanno Bartsch. Alongside freshman Connor Smith (Tampa, Fla.), the No. 33 doubles team defeated Bartsch/Kuehne 8-3.

“I think our first match against Georgia Southern went really well,” Mirzadeh explained. “We all came out very strong in our first sets to set the tone. In my first match I felt the same way. I good an early break and that kind of helped me ease into the match and get the early jitters out since it was our first match of the season.”

Smith won both of his singles matches including the clinching match against South Alabama. Against the Jaguars’ Dauw Kruger, he won 7-6, 6-3 on court four. Again on court four he defeated Gregory Bekkers of Georgia Southern 6-4, 6-1.

“It was awesome,” exclaimed Smith. “I’ve been playing tennis for quite some time now and I’ve never experienced anything like it. I guess I clinched the South Alabama match. I was great, I’ll remember it forever.”

Freshman Andres Bucaro (Guatemala City, Guatemala) had an exciting three set match against South Alabama’s Christian Kuehne to close the day with a 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 victory. He won He also posted an 8-1 doubles with along with fellow freshman Anderson Reed (Daphne, Ala.) against the Jaguars’ Kruger/Seur. He won his first match of the day against Matthijs Verdam of Georgia Southern 6-4, 6-1.

“In the first match in the morning, I got my nerves out,” Bucaro explained. “I was really nervous, anxious, excited, a lot of different emotions. I think it helped for the second match. When I saw my teammates struggling around 4:30 I thought I had to step it up and win. Thankfully my teammates did a great job, they won, they clinched it and then they were in the stands supporting me which helped a lot.”